Harvest yield falls far short of 2016
Based on the second estimate of this year’s harvest, it is expected that the production of basic cereals will reach an amount of 6,709 thousand tonnes and the production of rape seed will be 1,199 thousand tonnes. Compared to the above-average harvest of the previous year, the production of basic cereals is down by 13.2 percent and rape seed by 11.8% percent, the Czech Statistical Office reported on Friday.
The estimated production of basic cereals excluding corn grain, in the amount of 6,709 thousand tonnes is 13.2% lower than the last year’s above-average production. The expected drop of production by 1,020 thousand tonnes is entirely due to a decrease of the per hectare yield to 5.32 t/ha (-13.1%), while the sowing area of 1,262 thousand hectares remained almost unchanged compared to 2,016 (-0.1%). This year’s estimated production of basic cereals is lower than the last five-year average as well as the ten-year one (-6.5% and -4.2%, respectively).
As for all types of basic cereals, a decrease in per hectare yields is expected compared to the yields in 2016. An increase in the production owing to a major enlargement of the sowing areas is estimated only as for spring wheat (plus 65 thousand tonnes) and oat s (+20 thousand tonnes). Harvest of rye is estimated to remain basically unchanged compared to 2016. As for other cereals, a decrease in production is expected; the most marked drop will be at winter wheat (-854 thousand tonnes), spring barley (-117 thousand tonnes), and winter barley (-109 thousand tonnes).
Rape seed production is estimated to be 1,199 thousand tonnes, which is by 160 thousand tonnes lower than last year (-11.8%) due to a drop of the per hectare yield to 3.04 t/ha (-12.1%). The sowing area slightly expanded compared to 2016 to 394 thousand ha (+0.3%); it is the third highest value in the survey history. A higher sowing area of rape was recorded only in 2012 and 2013, when it exceeded 400 thousand hectares. When compared to a five-year average, the estimated rape production is by 10.6% lower (sowing area +0.1%; yield -10.7%); it is comparable to the ten-year average (harvest -0.1%; sowing area +4.9%; yield -4.8%).
This year’s production of poppy seed is estimated to be 23 thousand tonnes, which is almost by a fifth lower compared to 2016 (-19.8%) due to a drop in the per hectare yield to 0.70 t/ha (-2.5%) and the sowing area to 33 thousand ha (-8.3%).
